129: How We Make It Work with My Husband, Rob Issa

I bring you another beautiful interview today, friends. While working on my business I’ve become more present in my relationship with food, becoming in tune with what I really need. Changing our relationship with food is key to understanding our right to nourish our bodies. It’s on this whole line of thought that I invited Maura Rodgers to talk with me today. Maura is a registered dietician, integrative health coach, and an avid foodie and she coaches and empowers people to embrace mindful and intuitive eating techniques. Maura is such a beautiful person and our conversation covers not just healthy eating but truly celebrating food and becoming the most vibrant version of ourselves. 

Maura shares that she grew up in a culture where food was appreciated and celebrated and was something that her family was very intentional about enjoying. She grew up with a wonderful relationship to food and her body but she realized that too many people do not have that relationship at all. That’s what propelled her into a nutrition career, though not along the lines of dieting, but focusing on nourishing bodies instead. Maura and I talk about the shame that comes with a lot of food relationships, the guilt ingrained in diet culture, and why it’s okay to celebrate food. Maura addresses the need for self-compassion and letting go of fear around food while assessing what our bodies really want. Maura’s approach is rooted in health and celebration of bodies and eating, and she exudes kindness and a real understanding of how to make changes that lean towards nourishment gradually and with care. I know you’ll love hearing what she has to say.

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About Maura Rodgers:

As a Registered Dietitian, Integrative Health Coach and avid foodie, Maura has had the privilege of spending the last decade coaching and empowering individuals to achieve healthier, more vibrant lives through a whole-body, root-cause approach that embraces mindful and intuitive eating techniques.

Since day one, her mission has been to help as many people as possible create the health they dream of. Maura most recently worked as Facebook’s onsite Nutritionist in Menlo Park, CA where she earned a 95% patient satisfaction from her clients during her two years there; not because she was trying to, but because she genuinely wanted to do anything she could to help them achieve what they set out for. Additionally, she’s been lucky enough to provide corporate wellness services to companies like Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, Salesforce, Wayfair, Dwell Magazine, and Lululemon.

As a mom of two babies under two, Maura also knows exactly what it feels like to balance a busy lifestyle, working to reconnect with her body, while still wanting to nourish her body and mind with ease. She genuinely believes food can be celebrated and eaten mindfully while also helping you become the most vibrant version of yourself.

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Learn more about Maura Rodgers:

• Website: WellnessWithMaura.com
• Instagram

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Welcome back to the podcast. Today I don’t have a guest to introduce you to because I want to take some time to talk about a docuseries recently released on Netflix. The series in question is called “You Are What You Eat”. I was hesitant to watch it because I had preconceived notions about what it would be about before going in. But I couldn’t rightly talk to you about it without watching it. So I did. And while there were some parts of the documentary I appreciated, I came away feeling that it was mainly propaganda for vegan food. So I’m going to talk about “You Are What You Eat” and also give some tips on how to assess documentaries in the future.  

The docuseries was based on a twin study published in November 2023. In the study, they took twenty-one sets of twins and put one twin on a vegan diet and the other on an omnivore diet. The show looks at how the study was conducted and presents all the information and results gathered from it. I found things lacking in the setup of the study itself and I talk about those questions. There are statistics presented that were different when I looked them up myself. Ultimately my impression was that the series leaned towards a fear-mongering approach to make us feel bad about what we’re eating and, additionally, was pushing a vegan agenda. Now there are truths contained in the series, yes, but overall I felt it contained a lot of harmful fallacies. So I want to share how to approach documentaries like this in the future. What should you look for to determine the bias of the documentary, the equality, and the validity of the viewpoint presented? There’s simple research you can do so you can take information with a grain of salt and see propaganda for what it is. Join me for my thoughts and email me yours after you’ve listened.

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Hello, friends! I have another beautiful interview for you today. It’s so encouraging to talk to other women who are interested in ditching diet culture and healing relationships with food. Joanne Edinberg, my guest today, is a Certified Eating Psychology Coach and the founder of Body Wisdom Nutrition. Joanne and I actually both trained at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating which gives us a unique perspective on issues surrounding food and body and weight. Joanne’s interest in health and wellness led her through many other health-related careers but ultimately her passion focused on coaching women to develop a healthy relationship with food and their bodies. 

Something Joanne and I discuss is how diet culture has been so ingrained in us that even the simple act of going for a walk becomes a challenge to exercise and lose weight. We begin to lose touch with what is actually a very natural thing: going outside just because it feels good to be there and to move our bodies. Joanne stresses that self-compassion is a key component of being able to heal our relationships with exercise and food; and that believing we are worthy of rest and time in nature and enjoying the nourishment of food is vital. We talk about self-awareness, being aware of our bodies and what they need instead of just pushing through a certain number of steps and eating only a certain number of calories. There is so much wisdom and knowledge that Joanne has to share and this conversation is very open, honest, and healing. There are definitely ways we can start to change how we view food and our bodies, and Joanne shares the mindset we need to embrace to start healing. 

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About Joanne Edinberg:
Joanne Edinberg is a Certified Eating Psychology Coach and the founder of Body Wisdom Nutrition. She is on a mission to help women end the quest for the perfect diet and the perfect body, so they can spend their time and energy doing what truly nourishes them. She helps health-conscious women shift from feeling stressed to feeling free with food, weight and body image. She provides one-on-one coaching, both in-person and online, through her 12-week program “Transform Your Relationship with Food and Body,” to support women in developing a healthy relationship with food and body, helping them shift from the cycle of eat-guilt-and-shame to curiosity-compassion-and-joy. She uses a positive approach in working on issues such as weight, body image and emotional eating, guiding clients to find the internal wisdom to transform eating challenges into powerful opportunities for personal growth. 

Joanne has previously worked as a social worker and has training and experience as a yoga instructor and labor support doula. She has a B.S. in Psychology from Tufts University, a Master’s degree in Social Work from Boston University, and a Certification in Eating Psychology Coaching from the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. She lives in Seattle, WA.

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Learn more about Joanne Edinberg:

• Website: JoanneEdinberg.com
• Instagram
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Content Warning: This episode contains in-depth conversations about eating disorders, internal shame regarding body size, and body image

Today I’m having an open and honest conversation with Anne Poirier about body image and our relationships with food. Anne is a nationally recognized Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, author of “The Body Joyful”, a Certified Self-Talk Trainer, eating disorder specialist, and life coach. She is the leader of the body joyful movement and does a lot of body image and body neutrality work. She shares her own lived experiences with disordered eating with me in this discussion and we talk a lot about diet culture. We get vulnerable in this episode and we also address why we don’t talk about this subject enough. This is a necessary conversation, even if it’s difficult, and I’m so glad Anne is having it with me.

Anne shares her history with anorexia nervosa and binge eating and how the body messages in her head followed her through hospitalization and into a career in the fitness realm. The pressure from society to look a certain way, to embrace what I call “the thin ideal”, has always been powerful but especially in today’s world of 24/7 social media bombardment about how to look and eat. Anne and I talk about learning to question what we choose to believe about bodies, food, and eating. We need to identify the loathing self-talk in our heads and listen to our own bodies instead of those outside voices. Our conversation really dives into how we see ourselves, how that’s tied to how we see food, how we eat or don’t eat, and the shame we’ve carried around for so long. It’s a deeply personal and important episode and I can’t wait for you all to hear what Anne has to say.

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About Anne Poirier:
Anne Poirier CSCS, is a nationally recognized Body Image Expert, author of The Body Joyful, and Not a Fat Annie and leader of the Body Joyful Revolution.  As a pioneer and leading voice for the body neutrality movement, she has been featured and cited in major media outlets around the world including Shape, Women’s Health, New York Times, Washington Post, Livestrong, Huff Post, ABC, Fox, CBS and NPR.  

As a long-time eating disorder survivor, non-diet coach and certified self-talk trainer Anne serves on the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) Lived Experience Task Force. In a 35+ year fitness and coaching career and now as a certified Intuitive Eating Councilor, Eating Disorder Specialist and Life Coach, Anne helps women free themselves from diet culture and society’s thin ideal using her Body Joyful Solution.  

Anne can be reached at anne@thebodyjoyful.com
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Resources discussed in this episode:

• “The Body Joyful” by Anne Poirier
• “Not a Fat Annie” by Anne Poirier
• “When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies” by Jane R. Hirschman and Carol H. Hunter

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Learn more about Anne Poirier:

• Website: ShapingPerspectives.com
• X/Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Linkedin

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Friends, remember when I had my husband, Rob Issa, on the podcast a few weeks ago? We talked about navigating our different health goals within our relationship, among other things, and that episode was so well received. I knew I had to have Rob back for another discussion, a part two. So Rob is my guest today and we’re talking about when partners no longer find their spouse attractive after years of marriage or partnership. Specifically when one partner blames weight or weight gain for the change in attraction. It’s so easy, as a woman, to just say “men are assholes” but Rob’s here to talk it out because I suspect it’s more nuanced than that. 

This is a complex issue and very triggering, admittedly. Struggling with body image lends itself to not feeling attractive which might put off the partner. Or the partner being disinterested may exacerbate body image issues and lead to feelings of lesser attraction. Or one partner may be feeling something else altogether, a deeper issue, something that should be addressed but is difficult, and it becomes just easier to blame weight as the reason for lack of attraction. Rob and I talk about it all. We talk about men and trophy brides, women’s body image issues, men’s body image issues, inability to be vulnerable, using weight as a deflection tool, sincerely losing attraction and not knowing how to express it. We tackle all the rough and thorny issues. What we ultimately learn is that communication is necessary and not done nearly enough. We need to learn, as partners, as spouses, as intimate pairs, to talk about our bodies and our thoughts about each other’s bodies. As you’ll hear, it’s not easy to do. And yet undoubtedly the key is always going to be shedding light on the hidden issue below what’s said on the surface. Join us as we wade into the subject of blaming diminishing attraction on weight.

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Friends, today I’m talking about a topic I’ve been referencing a lot recently. If you listen regularly you’ll know I’m currently in pre-menopause so I often talk about what’s going on with my periods. So many menstruating people have irregular, super heavy, or very painful periods and it’s always bothered me that we’ve been told this is normal and don’t understand what we can do to get us to a place of normal periods. Which is why I’m so excited to introduce you all to Dr. Erin Ellis! Dr. Ellis is a naturopathic doctor who helps with hormone balancing, fixing periods, and regaining energy. She’s so compassionate to talk to because I feel listened to, which we often don’t feel when we talk about our periods.

Dr. Ellis touts the beauty of naturopathic medicine as being able to really get to the heart of the menstrual issue. Her job is to dig and find out why things are irregular or painful and then to fix it. One of the things Erin and I agree on is understanding that we’re allowed, as women, to advocate for ourselves and learn to insist on lab work and better investigation. Dr. Ellis explains the importance of hormones, managing stress, nutrition, exercise, quality of sleep, the types of environmental chemicals we’re using on our bodies and how every one of these things will affect menstrual cycles. This is why periods are often called the fifth vital sign because they really do tell us if other things are not working right or need looking into. Dr. Ellis has practical tips on getting the types of examinations we need, how we can help ourselves through nutrition and sleep, and explaining what’s happening so we can gauge what’s normal and what isn’t. This conversation will be a game-changer for so many of us!

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About Dr. Erin Ellis:
Dr. Ellis is a Naturopathic Doctor who helps women balance hormones, fix crappy periods and regain the energy they once had to be their happiest, healthiest selves.  In 2010 Dr. Ellis was diagnosed with a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma which was the turning point in her life and prompted her to pursue her dreams of becoming a Naturopathic Doctor.

Having had a cancer diagnosis at such a young age, Dr. Ellis’s mission is to empower those to take control of their health.  Life is too short to feel sub-optimal and given the right tools, your body has the innate ability to heal itself.

When she’s not empowering others to become their best versions, Dr. Ellis enjoys spending time helping her community, spending time with her dog, having game nights with family and friends and making new memories with her Fireman.
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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Think Dirty® Shop Clean app

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Learn more about Dr. Erin Ellis:

• Website: DrErinEllis.com
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Tiktok

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Welcome to another interview episode, friends! I’m excited to bring this one to you because it’s with a physician who does a lot of work on sleep. As you know, sleep is a topic I’m passionate about because it’s important to almost every aspect of being our best selves. Thriving begins with sleep. So today I talk with Dr. Dylan Petkus, a physician, researcher, and health optimization expert who takes an integrated approach to sleep apnea. Dr. Petkus coaches and educates others on lifestyle changes and natural therapies that optimize health and improve sleep. Today he and I dig into all the reasons, questions and possible solutions for sleep conditions and sleep apnea to help you all get your best sleep.

Dr. Dylan Petkus came to the topic of sleep research fourteen years ago through his own struggle with sleep. After his sleep fell apart, as he describes it, he did “me-search” to try to understand more about sleep. That led him to where he is today. Dr. Petkus works with sleep apnea but also with people who have autoimmune disorders, Hashimoto’s, or other issues that affect sleep. He talks about all the things that can affect sleep, like snoring, and how they occur. Inflammation in airways, tongue position, bad breathing patterns, and other issues. But what can be done? Surgery is an option but not a cure, and more of a last resort at best. Dr. Petkus lays out all the other factors we can work on to improve our sleep patterns: breathing mechanics, circadian rhythms, nervous system regulation, and environmental factors. There is so much fascinating and useful information here about why we snore, why we struggle with sleep, and what to do about it. I hope you find this conversation as fruitful as I did.

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About Dr. Dylan Petkus
Introducing Dr. Dylan Petkus—a physician, researcher, and health optimization expert who takes an integrated approach to sleep apnea.

As a peer-reviewed published author and award-winning researcher with a medical degree, a master's degree in endocrinology, and a master's degree in public health, Dr. Petkus focuses on how oxygen metabolism is at the core of sleep apnea.

For over a decade, Dr. Petkus has coached and educated others on lifestyle changes and natural therapies to optimize health. His goal is to share practical advice for improving sleep, energy levels, and mental clarity.
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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Tired To Inspired podcast
• Snore Lab app

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Learn more about Dr. Dylan Petkus:

• Website: PetkusMD.com
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Youtube
• Tiktok

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Hey friends, remember the episode when I finally had my husband Rob on and you all got to meet him? Not only was that a lot of fun, but in that episode Rob and I talked about our ongoing struggles with meal planning and how it’s something we’re working on. That led me to want to talk to an expert in meal planning and today I’m excited to introduce the expert I found to all of you! Meet Courtney Genereux, a registered nurse who recently completed her level one Precision Nutrition coaching certification. Courtney is passionate about meal planning and how it changed the way meals happen for her family. So join me in learning some motivating tips from Courtney so we can look at meal planning in a whole new light. 

Courtney came to meal planning after working a lot of shift work as a registered nurse. She suddenly realized that she simply wasn’t taking the time to care for herself and the meal choices she made affected her kids and family too. She got serious about meal planning after that and has fit it into her busy lifestyle in a way that really works. When I explained to Courtney that one of the pain points with Rob and me in meal planning was that we really tried to get innovative and make new recipes every night, and how that really didn’t work, Courtney revealed how she shares meal picking duties with her husband and kids and they find meals that are easy prep for everyone. Courtney’s advice centres around putting the joy back into food and planning meals, finding ways to make additional meals for lunches while working on dinner, freezing extra, finding a fast breakfast that works and having it ready to go in the mornings, and so many other tips that just make sense. Her enjoyment of the process is infectious and I hope will inspire you like she inspired me. 

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About Courtney Genereaux
Courtney is an energetic, active and driven woman, with a passion for helping others learn that caring for yourself is not selfish and that caring for yourself is actually the greatest gift you can give your loved ones! Courtney is a registered nurse, who has worked for the last 17 years in emergency departments in western Canada. After getting married, having two children and working years of shift work, Courtney found herself no longer prioritizing her own health and wellness. Courtney believes that health and wellness is more about your journey and state of being, rather than a number on the scale. Courtney has recently completed her Precision Nutrition Level 1 and is building her coaching business.
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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Precision Nutrition
• “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
• Goodfood

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Learn more about Courtney Genereux:

• Website: EverydayMealsForYou.ca
• Instagram

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

I’ve been thinking about grief and how it relates to weight loss because I don’t think we honor the grief process enough in this journey. When you make the decision to stop all the dieting, restrictions, and deprivation and really allow yourself to be an intuitive eater, it’s a beautiful thing. It really is! But there is another aspect to that when we consider how much of our lives we spend focused on dieting and weight loss. Now that we’re not doing that, what do we do with ourselves? Can we truly be happy if we abandon weight loss? And these five stages of grief that we go through need to be acknowledged so we can stay on the intuitive eating path we’ve chosen. 

My husband identified the five stages of grief in me as an Oilers fan which, if you follow hockey, you’ll understand intimately when the Edmonton Oilers start losing playoff games. But these five stages are present in a lot of things and definitely in our weight loss journeys too. Stage one is denial. Stage two is anger. Stage three is bargaining. Stage four is depression, which is really tough to sit with. And finally, stage five is acceptance. What do these look like when applied to giving up dieting? How do we navigate them on our journey to intuitive eating? What can we do to help ourselves at each stage of grief? I’ve navigated, or been navigating, all these stages myself and I am here to help you. I’ll talk about each of these stages today and look at why it’s necessary to feel these things and how to move past them. Grief is a process that isn’t always desirable but always teaches us something valuable.

About Dr. Michelle Tubman

Dr. Michelle Tubman is a physician and health coach. She helps women ditch dieting and thrive at any size. For the longest time, she believed that weight loss was the answer to all her problems. But decades of yo-yo dieting and restriction left her miserable, unhealthy, and exhausted. Now she teaches women how harmful dieting can be and shows them the way to true health and wellness.

As a physician specializing in both emergency and obesity medicine, with additional training in nutrition, eating psychology, and coaching, Michelle can tell you with certainty that dieting is dangerous. Studies associate compromised health more with yo-yo dieting than higher body weight. Yet, everywhere you turn, shrinking your body is hailed as the solution. Women don't need to change. Attitudes do. So let's stop self-shaming, speak out against sizeism, and fiercely champion unconditional self-celebration!

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Friends, it’s 2024 and I can’t even believe it! I’m actually recording this at the end of 2023 and Rob and I just came back from an amazing trip to Costa Rica. His 50th birthday trip! On one of the last days of our trip, I had an experience that was pretty profound for me. After that, Rob looked at me and said I had to do a podcast episode about it. At the time I didn’t think it had anything to do with the podcast but he insisted there were so many parallels. As I thought about it, I realized he was right. So here we are in 2024 and I’m going to tell you about my experience in Costa Rica and how it led to this episode about facing fears and being bold in conquering those fears. Are you ready? I’m excited to share, so let’s go!

The story is about a diving platform on a two-storey catamaran that Rob and I went on. I wanted so badly to jump off that 15 ft high platform into the gorgeous water but fear kept me from doing it. I’m afraid of heights and I would just get paralyzed when I stood on the platform. I couldn’t do it. But when we sat down for lunch it was nagging at me that I hadn’t jumped and I just realized I needed to do it. So I handed my food to Rob, marched over to that platform, and jumped. And friends, the exhilaration of that jump! I felt so powerful. It was so much fun but also I had conquered a profound fear by facing it. The parallel is in our health journeys. I had started intuitive eating before I recently made the shift for good but didn’t approach it right and gave up. I was afraid of giving up the control that diets seemed to give me. This time, though, I faced that fear and approached intuitive eating with my desire for health. I conquered that fear. This episode is all about conquering fears, facing our fear of letting go, facing our own judgement and paralysis. What are you afraid of? How are you going to jump off the boat this year? I want to encourage you to find and face that fear, and then write to me about how you did it and how you feel. Welcome to 2024 and jumping off the boats! 

About Dr. Michelle Tubman

Dr. Michelle Tubman is a physician and health coach. She helps women ditch dieting and thrive at any size. For the longest time, she believed that weight loss was the answer to all her problems. But decades of yo-yo dieting and restriction left her miserable, unhealthy, and exhausted. Now she teaches women how harmful dieting can be and shows them the way to true health and wellness.

As a physician specializing in both emergency and obesity medicine, with additional training in nutrition, eating psychology, and coaching, Michelle can tell you with certainty that dieting is dangerous. Studies associate compromised health more with yo-yo dieting than higher body weight. Yet, everywhere you turn, shrinking your body is hailed as the solution. Women don't need to change. Attitudes do. So let's stop self-shaming, speak out against sizeism, and fiercely champion unconditional self-celebration!

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram